What's the easiest way to remove rust from disk brakes

[Mdan]

Apart from driving the car what's the best way

[rrobson]

Depends how much and how deep it penetrates.

If there's a lot then you would have to skim the surface off on a lathe.

[Supervinnie40]

Metal polish with a cordless drill and a "powerball"

http://www.homerepairtutor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Use-PowerBall-with-Power-Drill.jpg

[T-Cut]

It's impossible to stop cast iron discs from rusting. The important thing is that the friction surface area covered by the pads is sound and rust free. Brakes work by converting energy into heat. The amount of energy a set of discs can dissipate depends on their mass.This includes the rust. If you remove too much mass, the brakes will fade. I'd suggest replacement rather than taking away too much metal just to make them look nice.

TC

[kaiser]

It's impossible to stop cast iron discs from rusting. The important thing is that the friction surface area covered by the pads is sound and rust free. Brakes work by converting energy into heat. The amount of energy a set of discs can dissipate depends on their mass.This includes the rust. If you remove too much mass, the brakes will fade. I'd suggest replacement rather than taking away too much metal just to make them look nice.

TC

I can't see much relation between mass and fading, to be quite honest. Fading is caused by overheating, and there is no reason why heating will increase because the disk has less mass. Unless you assume that the metal only absorbs the heat. It does to a certain degree, but cooling is far more important than absorption, and the thickness of the disk does not affect cooling in any meaningful way, as the surface area is virtually the same, except for a small reduction in the thickness (or width) of the disk.

The original question should be answered simply by "there is no better way than using the brakes"!
Only in case of uneven braking cause by a warped disk, should you consider removing material off the disk

[Chuckles]

I have used "flapper disk" in the past, successfully.

Use very little pressure on the disk, certainly no more than the weight of the tool. it will remove surface rust but don't attempt to go deeper.

As mentioned earlier, driving the car is the best solution, then change Pads and drive some more!

This was on a 36year old stored car (not a 75) and there was no judder or purging after.

[MSS]

If it's just surface rust the old spark plug brush works well. As does wire wool to finish it off.

If the rust and any pitting is deep I would just replace. After all discs are not very expensive.

[marinabrian]

Twisted wire cup brush in an angle grinder, but if they're really grotty just change them ;)

Brian :D

[Billy1mate]

Drive it then replace the pads if you are that concerned about rust on your pads, a wire thing in a drill.:shrug: